Dear Ones,

Hope your day is full of sunshine. This morning I am going to my exercise class, Aldi’s and crafts and then Bible Study tonight. If you are not getting my devotions, please go to our website, canaansrest.org/whispers, and scroll down and resubscribe. I may have lost some of your e-mail addresses also in the transfer to my new computer. There is a small miracle chance that a geek that is coming from Minot next week will be able to restore what has been lost.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  Perhaps all of us need to relinquish our earth view of things to see more from heaven’s perspective. It could change us forever! I was reading an article by Helen Calder about how God changes our story and reveals His glory. My heart resonated with her words as she wrote how God brings grace and healing to those things in our past that have left us with shame and pain and brings good from it.

We can ask ourselves how many times has God used a closed door in our lives for His greater plan. At the time we may have felt disappointment but then we see how God used it for a far greater good in His plan. Or perhaps we grieve the loss of a ministry we were holding onto and later we are led into a very different way of serving the Lord that seems to be a perfect fit. Or maybe God moved us just when we felt so comfortable but then later, we can see His purpose and can rejoice.

  I am so humbled when I see God’s better way and know that I see only dimly, and He sees the whole panoramic view of things. He can rewrite our stories if we give Him the pieces and are willing to forgive and quit hanging on. Sometimes it means forgiving another and it can also mean forgiving ourselves. Like Joyce Meyers who endured being sexually abused by her dad fo her growing up years, God has rewritten her story and given her a ministry that brings healing to so many. It took her some time to forgive, as it often does for us, but when God is handed our stories, we have no idea how He will rewrite ours. Actually, doesn’t that sound exciting? Lately, I have had a couple dreams where my responses were different than before and I see how the Lord has healed me in a certain area. I give Him praise!
   Let us give the Lord all the pieces of our lives and see how He transforms them and brings glory. Like the old gospel hymn goes:                        “Shackled by a heavy burden/ ‘neath a load of guilt and shame/ Then the hand of Jesus touched me/ and now I am no longer the same.”        Refrain: He touched me, O, He touched me/ And O ,the joy that floods my soul/ Something happened, and now I know/ He touched me and made me whole./ Since I met this blessed Savior/ Since He cleansed and made me whole/ I will never cease to praise Him/ I’ll shout it while eternity rolls.”

Challenge for today: Hand over all the pieces of your life to the One who makes you whole.

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy